Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies? - Amy Brown

Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who Really Decides How We Feed Our Babies? by Amy Christine Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's taken me a long time to read this, not because it was a hard read, or I didn't enjoy it. It had more to do with the fact that I just dipped into it from time to time. Which is a bit of a shame really, it was both interesting and engaging.
In many ways, this follows on from the ground covered by The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts Are Bad for Business. I read that some years ago now and in this book, I could see some of those themes were continued. This time, it was more to do with supporting women to breastfeed and why that might go wrong.
Much of the information in this book is common sense when you stop and think about it. Sadly though, when it comes to the highly emotive topic of feeding babies, stopping and thinking about it is the last thing that happens.
In this book, Amy Brown lays out an 18 step plan for helping more women to breastfeed. For anyone who is involved in supporting women with babies, or has a baby themselves or within their family, then this is a handy checklist. Am I doing anything, consciously or otherwise that might be damaging the breastfeeding partnership?
The main downside of this book is that I suspect for the most part it is preaching to the converted. Who is going to be interested in reading a book called Breastfeeding Uncovered? For the most part, I suspect that it will be people who already have a vested interest in the topic, either as breastfeeding women, or peer supporters. (Both categories that I fall, or have fallen, into.) It is a shame that books like this don't attract a wider audience. Particularly when you consider that the overriding message of this book is that if we wish to help more women to breastfeed and remove much of the guilt and angst that surrounds being unable to do so, then a shift in the society as a whole is necessary.
Overall this was an interesting and thought-provoking read, whilst still being accessible and easy to read.

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